


Sans breaks script

by Raptarion



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Death of several characters is discussed but not described with any real detail, I don't know what to tag this as, The major character death warning is just to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 15:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5423015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptarion/pseuds/Raptarion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What did you say?"<br/>Sans misses a beat. What DID he say? He thinks back. He said it right, didn't he?<br/>"Uh... I said you died nine times?"<br/>"You always start that by saying seven times."<br/>Oh no. He messed up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sans breaks script

"So. It's going to be this song and dance again?" Sans thinks to himself.

The human stood out in the open as Papyrus showed up. He knew what it meant. This time around wasn't going to be any fun. There would be no silly pranks or lunch at Grillby's. The kid wouldn't smile, or go along with his funny hijinx. No stacking 'dogs on his head. No mercy.  
He goes along with the conversation. Says his lines. He'd been through all this before. It was all too easy to keep a straight face now. Like a joke you've already heard the punchline to a dozen times. But it wasn't a joke. It was just all kinds of messed up.

They leave. He can drop the act for a little while. Collect his thoughts. Harden himself. Come to terms with the fact that she was dead again. He only has a few moments. He needs to go meet Papyrus. Get ready for the next scene. Play it all out. Act like everything is OK around Papyrus. Act like everything is normal around the kid. Because if they didn't think everything was normal. If they thought something had changed. Then... he didn't know. And that was scary. If they KNEW that he knew. That he remembered... he had long ago decided that the hell you knew was better than the hell you didn't.

It was like ripping off a band-aid. Or, so he assumed. The sooner it was over, the sooner they would be satisfied. The sooner they would reset again. And hopefully the next time around they would be in the mood to be more merciful. He would still be playing out tired old lines. But at least the imitation of having a good time would be better than this. Better than hiding. Better than knowing his brother was being killed. That EVERYONE was being killed. He talked only to those he knew he talked to the first time. Exactly like he did the first time. So things would play out exactly like they should. And he waited. Waited for the person he used to call friend. That he probably would call friend again in time.

The human arrives, and walks through the hall. He entertains the notion of not stopping them. Letting them walk on. Wonder where he was. Maybe they would think he was too scared to fight them. Maybe they wouldn't read too much into it. Just go on to do whatever it is they do after he dies. It is a tempting idea. He was so very tired of doing this over and over after all. But no. That's not how it's done. He block their path. Gives a speech he's given many times before. And the fight starts.

It's over faster than he thought it would be.  
"Kid must be pretty rusty." Sans thinks to himself as they make their was back to him.

He delivers his line. Things start up again. Another quick victory.

That's the expression of someone who's died thrice in a row.  
That's the expression of someone who's died quice in a row.  
Five deaths. One for each finger.

Sans figures out that they've given themselves a handicap. Trying to win without getting hit at all by the looks of it. This would take a while.

Six times. The number of fingers on a mutant hand.  
Seven. The lucky number.  
Eight. The number of fingers on a spider.  
Nine. Or is it ten?

Their expression changes suddenly.  
"What did you say?"  
Sans misses a beat. What DID he say? He thinks back. He said it right, didn't he?  
"Uh... I said you died nine times?"  
"You always start that by saying seven times."  
Oh no. He messed up. He can almost feel himself start to sweat.  
"I don't know what that's supposed to mean." He says. He wasn't sure what to do. How long as it been since he had to say something original. Something new. He's never had to go off script before.  
"What's going on?" They ask.  
"Look. If this is some weird way of stalling for time or something, I'm going to tell you right now. It isn't going to work." Sans says, starting his attack. They die. Things keep going. For now.

He breaths heavily. He struggles to not hyperventilate. He screwed up. Big time. He wasn't supposed to go off script. If the kid thought things had changed then-  
The world jumps around. They had reset everything. He composes himself, wipes the sweat from his brow. And faces them again.

"Hmm. That expression. That's the expression of someone who's died ten times in a row. Hey. Congra-!" Sans starts.  
"Why was it different last time?" They interrupted.  
"What? You mean your last death? Probably because you were still in the single digits. But look at you now! Ten and all grown up. We should throw a party with all your friends. Like... oh wait. I just remembered. You don't have any, do you?"  
"Drop the act Sans."  
Sans stays silent for a few seconds. He thinks of any number of responses. What would he say if the kid started acting like this out of nowhere? But he can't think. Everything's changed in an instant. He doesn't know what to do.

He sighs heavily. "Alright fine. I can't keep this up any longer. You happy?"  
They stare. He can't quite read their expression.  
"Uh... I'll take that as a no."  
More silence.  
"...look you twist my arm here and make me stop acting the fool the least you can do is meet me half way. This awkward silence is killing me."

The world cuts away. He's standing in the snow, leaning against a tree. They reset everything. It was back to the beginning.

The ground in front of them is covered in little patterns he had made with his toes. Back when he was struggling with all the tension of waiting for the anomaly. Back before he knew it was a human. The same human Toriel told him to help. The same one that had become his friend. The same one that had killed him.

He goes through the same steps. The walk through the woods to the entrance of the ruins. He waits. Back then, he was just hoping she would be there. Now he knew she wouldn't be. Now he went to meet the human. And make sure things played out like they should. Eventually the doors open, and close. And the human is there. They look around. And then start walking. He does the creepy shadow stalker routine. The kid isn't phased. He walks up behind them. Before he can open his mouth, they speak.

"How long have you known?" They ask, not turning around.  
Of course they would ask. It was wishful thinking that they would let it be. That they would be content going through the same motions this time around, knowing that Sans was aware of what was going on.  
"...a while." He replies.  
"That doesn't answer my question."  
"I don't actually know. I didn't bother to keep track after a while. I think you've brought things back to the beginning twenty times? Probably more."  
"For that long?" Frisk asks. They sound like they're chocking on their own words.  
"Yeah." Sans states flatly, not sure what to make of this. It had been so long since he had an actual conversation. Since anything new was said. Every second was stressful and strange. He didn't know what to expect. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to react. He almost missed how things were. When there were no questions. Just the script. But it was pointless to think about that now. The script was out the window. Nothing he could do about that.

"I didn't know." Frisk says. They're still chocking on their words.  
"That was the whole point." Sans said.  
"Why didn't you tell me?" They asked.  
"Why would I?" Sans asked.  
"To make me stop? To make sure I didn't kill anyone? To save Papyrus?" They sounded like they were crying.  
"I told you to stop every time. And you never listened. What would have made this any different?" Sans asked. He was getting a little angry now. Did they think it was HIS fault they did these things?  
"But I didn't know. I didn't know anyone REMEMBERED. They would only hurt for a little while. And then I'd go back. Everything would be alright. No harm done. And I could do things right. If I thought people still hurt. That they remembered being killed then..." They trailed off.  
"Well then. My bad." Sans says, his tone bitter. Spiteful. He felt fresh hatred for the first time in months. Years even. "You make a fantastic point. When someone begs you not to kill them, it shouldn't really matter unless they remember it. People's lives are free for you to use as your play things as long as you just reset. No harm no foul right?"

"I... I'm so sorry. About your brother. About our friends." Frisk said.  
" _Our_ friends? Is this how you treat your friends?" Sans asks.  
"I was above consequence. And I needed to see what would happen. I justified it by saying it wouldn't matter when I came back."  
"You think that makes you a good person?" Sans asks.  
"No. But it meant that, when it was all over, I could make things right again." Frisk said.  
"And once you got bored, you decided to bring everything back and kill your so called friends again." Sans said.  
"I didn't come back to kill them. I hated that part." Frisk said.  
"Oh? Well I must be missing something then. Tell me, what other part was there? It looked like that's just about all you were doing." He stared daggers at Frisk's back. They had the gall to act like their deaths, their MURDERS didn't mean anything. And their crying didn't make things any better. It just made him hate them all the more. If their deaths were so hard to go through, why would they do it over and over again?  
"I came back to fight. You and Undyne. You never fight harder than when the world is at stake. That's why I came back. The challenge. That was fun. But I always had to... If I'd known then-"  
"Spare me the sob story. It doesn't matter what you would have done. What matters is what you did. And you're never going to be able to erase that. No matter how hard you try."

"...I'm never going to do it again Sans. I promise you. Never again."

"...I wish I could believe that."

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not write something else for this. But for now this is it.


End file.
